Chocolate chip short bread cookie

 

Last year 2025, we as a family, celebrated Christmas in LA. My son's fiance is completing her Doctor Residency and couldn't take time off in December, 2025. Hence my son felt we can all do Christmas in LA and that way all can be together.

We had lot of fun, playing board games, opening gifts and preparing dishes like chicken biryani( made by my son ) and Christmas cookies, made by my daughter.

Here I'm sharing a recipe of Christmas cookies, that are rolled (like a pinwheel) in crystal sugar, before baking them in the oven.

The fun part for making both was adjusting to an airbnb kitchen and the oven they had, didn't work that well! But the cookies turned out great!

Chocolate Chunk cookies with demerara sugar crystals 

                                                                                  

Ready to bake 

                                                                                
                                                                              
                                                                         

Ingredients:

2 sticks of unsalted butter cut into cubes

1/2 cup granulated sugar 

1/4 cup brown sugar 

1 slab of dark chocolate cut into small chunks

1 egg beaten (keep for later for an egg wash on the cookie, before baking them)

21/4 cups all purpose flour 

1/2 cup Demerara sugar (crystal golden sugar)

1 tsp vanilla essence 

1/2 tsp salt 

Method:

1. Using a medium bowl, beat both sugar with unsalted butter (butter is better, if cold) using a wooden spoon mix till it is light and creamy.

2. Next, add in vanilla essence.

3. Sieve flour and salt. Add to the creamy butter and sugar mixture. Add in chopped chocolate chunks

5. Combine the dough and make a thick roll

6. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour 

7. Using a knife cut out round 1 inch thick disc cookie. Using a baking brush dip in the beaten egg and spread onto the sides of the cookies.

8. Using a tray, spread 1/2 cup of demerara sugar and roll the sides into the sugar.

9. Lay them onto a baking sheet, that has parchment paper lined. Bake the cookies, at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes and they are nice and golden in color.

These cookies are chunky and dense and so delicious. Enjoy with family, friends with or without a cup of coffee.

 

Jam Filled cookies

Holiday time is the perfect time to enjoy treats and these butter cookies are just the thing festive with their colorful fillings and soft to melt in your mouth.
Easy to prepare and a favorite with all. 

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup softened butter
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup fruit jam / jelly of your choice and flavor

Lavender and Jam filled cookies

Butter cookies filled with Jelly 

Method:
1. In  medium mixing bowl cream together the softened butter and sugar, till light and creamy.Add one egg yolk at a time, continue to mix gently.
2. Sieve the flour, and add it slowly and continue to mix to form a dough.Cover with saran wrap and refrigerate dough, in the fridge for about 20 minutes. As it cools, make small balls ,approximately 1 inch balls and arrange them on a lined baking tray about 2 inch apart .
3. Using  back of a spoon or thumb press into each of the dough  ball, to make a well for the jam filling.
4. Fill each hole with your choice of jelly preserve. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10 to 20 minutes, and the cookies get baked to alight golden color.
5. Remove cool, over a rack and enjoy freshly baked butter jam cookies.

Next will be the recipe for lavender cookies.

White christmas and snow flake cookies

What a Christmas wonderland this place is 🎄 last week we went to Lake Tahoe with the kids, and another family.
It was snowing and looked so magical!! A first time experience of watching falling snow made it even more  special.
I had planned to make some snow flakes cookies to take along with us. The children had an even better plan, of making us a Christmas Eve dinner, that turned out so grand and made us all so happy!

Lake Tahoe , is in Nevada and bout 4 hours drive from SanJose, California. During winter, people love to take a trip, stay there and do winter sport and skiing.
There is a place there called Emerald Bay, and the view you get to see is out of this world! There are many lodges, vacation homes available but do book in advance!

Tahoe 

Emerald Bay

The snowflake cookies are basically sugar, butter and flour based. The cookie cutters create these lovely shapes, that both kids and adults like :)

Ingredients
3 cups flour
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp  milk
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp sugar to sprinkle over the cookies
1/2 tsp candied ginger (optional)

Method:
1. In a mixing bowl and using an electric hand beater, start by smoothing the butter, add sugar and continue mixing with hand mixer, till it appears creamy consistency. Now add in vanilla essence, pinch of salt, chop finely and add candied ginger and add in  milk, mix together to form  into a soft dough.
As the dough starts to leave the sides, take it out and roll it into a ball shape and wrap it with saran wrap ( plastic wrap) and leave it in the refrigerator to cool for about 20 mins.
2. Dust a flat board with flour and roll out the cooled dough, by dividing it into two halves. Flatten each half into 1/4 inch thickness.  Using cool cookie cutters, cut out shapes like snow flakes, Christmas tree , snow man!
Sprinkle some sugar on the top, and bake them  on a baking tray at 350 F for about 15 to 20 mins. Remove as they appear light golden brown on the sides!
Cool and enjoy these delicious cookies, with some ice cream or just the way they are.
                                                       

                                               

                                            

Ingredients

Cream butter and sugar,add vanilla essence and candied ginger

Wrap dough in saran wrap

Dust flour on flat board

Snowflake cookie cutter shapes

                                               

Place on baking mat 

                                               

Sprinkle sugar on the top

                                                          

Some snowman and Christmas tree cookie cut outs

                                                 

                                              

Snowflake cookies!